


Photograph

by eggplantalong



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Character Study, Drabble, Gen, Introspection, Minor Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:07:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27617404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eggplantalong/pseuds/eggplantalong
Summary: Akira cleans their apartment and finds a photo of Akechi's mother.
Kudos: 20





	Photograph

**Author's Note:**

> shuake is established but not focus of the fic

Lying on the farthest end of a bookshelf, those cheap things one can buy in the 100-yen store and easily nail to the wall, is a fray and faded picture of a woman with a gentle smile and tired eyes.

Akechi looks nothing and everything like his mother. He doesn’t look like the gentle person in the photo, who looked tired and frail that seemed like one shout would make her collapse. There was nothing similar in the way that Akechi holds himself, at times confident and brimming with power edged with a tinge of violence, ready to fight and claw himself out of the problem either with his fists or his words. Nor anything like the way that Akechi would hunch in on himself, like a wild animal trapped and caged, but not even bars would hold back those wary eyes watching and waiting for an opening. To run. To fight.

Even if the colors have faded, creases damaging the photos with its white lines running from edge to edge, it was obvious Akechi had his mother’s eyes, the shape of her lips. Not her nose, the only one thing he might or might not share with his father (something Akechi will never mention). The color of her hair, the way her eyes glint a tiny bit of wine red if you bring the photo under the light. One can only wonder what it would look like to have those red eyes staring with a tired and defeated look from a heart shaped face rather than the round one Akechi has.

But she was beautiful, even in her plain dress holding what must be a young Akechi, a tiny reserved smile on his face as they both looked at whoever was holding the camera.

The picture rests in a simple metal frame, something that looks sturdy and well made. (It definitely wasn’t something bought from the many plastic ones in the 100-yen store.) It looked new, in contrast to the picture safely tucked inside of it, that it must’ve been bought as soon as they moved into their new apartment.

Who knows how long Akechi had this picture? The way it must have been folded over and over again, tucked somewhere inside his belongings kept secret and safe as he moved from one house to another. Somehow surviving Akechi’s disappearance and almost death, hidden inside a battered copy of Robin Hood that was left in Sae’s office. Nothing short of a miracle.

Akira sets it back where it rests at the far end of the bookshelf, carefully placing it where it’s almost hidden by the stack of books. He offers a little prayer to the gods and a quick smile and quiet thanks to the person in the picture, and resumes cleaning their apartment.

**Author's Note:**

> just wanted to write something short about how much akechi loves his mom and how he might have only that one pic faded and frayed from so much times he had to fold it and keep it somewhere secret and safe as he moved from house to house


End file.
